El Gordo, "the fat one", refers to a large lottery jackpot, particularly the one offered in the Spanish Lotería Nacional at Christmas. The Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad takes place on December 22 and the jackpot is worth several million pounds to the holder or holders of the winning number. Because of the cost of buying an entire number, people generally buy décimos (tenth-part shares), which means the total winnings are usually shared out between a number of people.